Naruto: Twilight Chronicles Redux
by Deus Namikaze
Summary: "I am the one who will establish peace and order..." A promise made by the Rikudō Sennin, but unfufilled. Knowing his life was drawing to an end, he passes on his Will onto his chosen successor. Rewrite of old fic.
1. The Sage's Gift: Prologue

**Alright, for those who are wondering why I'm rewriting this story is because the other one wasn't that great to be honest. I had the ending in mind, but not the main story, so I more or less improvised, but I've changed that now and the story is set in stone. **

**I considered trying to continue and make the changes, but the personalities of the characters in the other story were too developed for me to change without people thinking I'm a retard or something of the sorts.**

**There will be many differences between this story and the original, such as character personalities, especially Naruto's and Kurama's. This Naruto will be rather grey, and not forgiving everyone like Canon!Naruto and the one in original version.**

**Anyway, enough of my ramblings and self-castigation. I hope you enjoy this story.**

**Naruto: Twilight Chronicles Redux**

**The Sage's gift.**

Prologue:

A solitary form entered a large, roofless, circular room. The room was devoid of any furniture, save two large candle holders with unlit candles placed on top of it.

The figure, a male by the looks of it, continued his trek, before stopping in between the two candle holders. With a flare of his chakra, the candles became ignited, illuminating the room along with the stars of the night sky.

The man felt the wind pass over his aged features, and rustling his white cloak along with his white spiky hair, with two distinct spikes at the front that stuck up that resembled horns. He stroked his long goatee with his left hand absentmindly as he allowed the breeze to wash over him.

He raised his right hand, which contained his trusty shakujō that had aided him in many battles, and abruptly bought in back down to the ground. Chakra flowed out from the staff into the ground and spread out. Four circles of kanji formed from the chakra, the first being around the two candle holders. There was a space of about five meters between each circle. In the space between the first and second circles were six triangles that surrounded the first, along with six magatama seals. Between the third and fourth circles were also six magatama seals that surrounded the space.

The man brought up his unoccupied hand to chest level. His index and middle fingers pointed straight up at the night sky, while the rest remained in an impromptu fist. This was recognised as the half ram seal among his followers, the followers of Ninshū. The full ram seal was created in order to assist people when they wanted to gather their chakra, while the half ram seal was used to expel chakra in bursts.

He began to build up his chakra, moulding it in a way that only those who wielded his eyes could. What he was about to do would speed up his already imminent departure, but it was for the sake of the world. If he couldn't at least do this, then his label as the Kono Yo no Kyūseishu was a sham, since after his death, the Jūbi would be free to roam the earth and wreck havoc once again. Only this time, it would make sure that humanity was wiped out.

"Daiō Fūin **(King's Seal)**, kai!" the man muttered.

His body became surrounded by azure blue chakra as he began to levitate off the ground. He focused on the chakra that was sealed within his being, drawing it out and expelling it into the air. The circle in the room glowed a pale blue as it assisted the process. The chakra left his body at a rapid pace as if it was determined to be free once again.

Once the chakra had left the man's body completely, it began form into a shape that had the upper-body physique of a human complete with opposite thumbs on clawed hands, but the lower body was like that of a fox. It had several spiky potrusions leading up from its shoulders to the tip of its triangular head.

Ten tails swished up and down behind it, which would have no doubtedly destroyed the walls of the room if it weren't for the reinforcement seals inscribed into the walls. Malevolent chakra leaked out of the being, but unable to spread, as it seemed to be contained within the room. A single eye on a triangular head opened, revealing four concentric circles with three tomoes on the three circles closest to the pupil on a ruby red eye that levelled its gaze on the man before it.

It was the begining of all chakra, a god who created countries.

It went by several names; Ame no Hitotsu no Kami (One-eyed god), Datara, Daidarabotchi (Giant) was to name a few.

It swallows oceans. Splits the land. Carries mountains. And it is the progenitor of all that existed in the world.

It was the Jūbi.

**"Kukuku."** its deep, gravelly voice boomed, **"You fool Haō-kun, now that I'm released, what's stopping me from destroying you where you stand?"**

Haō gazed at the beast with something akin to pity. It lived to destroy, nothing else. Nothing should have to live like that, and it was a shame he had been unable to tame the beast in all his years as a Jinchūriki.

**"Do you honestly believe that I am not aware of what you've been planning over all the years? If you think that I will allow my power to be split into nine pathetic shells then I'm afraid to inform you that the years have made you senile."**

Haō sighed deeply, "You underestimate me, Jūbi." The Jūbi narrowed its eye slightly, showing that it's interest had been piqued, "I certainly knew you would refuse to yield without a fight, but what surprises me is you don't seem to believe I'm capable of shielding my thoughts from you."

The Jūbi smirked, **"So there's still hope for you yet eh? Well I guess I'll have to take your secrets from your dead body. My, will I relish beholding the expression on sweet little Nami-chan's face once she sees dear old **_**jiji's**_** cold… dead… **_**body**_**."**

At the mention of his dear granddaughter's name, Haō saw red, thrusting his arm forwards, roaring, "SHINRA TENSEI!"** (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent god)**

The Jūbi reeled back as it felt an invisible force smash into its body, blood escaping from its gritted fang, _**Human's are supposed to weaken with age, not gain strength!**_

Haō swing his shakujō in an upwards arc, releasing an invisible blade of wind which cut the Jūbi's arm off cleanly.

The very earth was shaken as the Jūbi roared in pain as blood spurted from the wound. As quick as a flash, it's arm grew back and it sent a slash towards Haō. The slash didn't find it's target, as he jumped into the air.

Haō floated as he stretched his hand towards the heavens, labrously bringing it down a moment later as if he were pulling down a heavy object.

The Jūbi looked on with glee, its blood boiling in anticipation of a battle like no other, as this time, it could actually die. It didn't wait long as a meteor, twice the size of the great beast itself burst through the heavens on a collision course with the Jūbi.

A small measure of shock flitted across its face, but it soon morphed into a full blown bloodthirsty grin. It opened its gaping maw and released a stream of fire of epic proportions. The flame surrounded the rock, slowly crystallising it due to the fires' unique properties.

With a flick of its tail, the mountainous crystal was sent back towards Haō, who smashed it into millions of pieces with a single punch.

**"Glad to see you are still in possession of your monstrous strength."** The Jūbi quipped, **"Though how you are stronger now than before baffles me."**

The Jūbi took a deep breath, it's chest swelling in size, before releasing it in the form of several chakra blasts. Haō's eyes widened, despite his Rinnegan's ability to allow the user to see things slowed down, those blasts were still moving rather fast, _Imari!__** (Menacing Ball)**_

He weaved expertly between them, but nothing could prevent him from being blindsided by the Jūbi, a swipe which sent him into the ground. The Jūbi wasted no time in taking advantage of Haō prone form, releasing another jet of flame at him.

The Jūbi continued to cook the ground until it ran out of breath, which needless to say, for a creature of its size, was a long while. It waited for the smoke to clear so it may inspect its handiwork. It was slightly disappointed to see a dome made of pink crystals instead of a charred corpse.

Haō was panting lightly, his forehead matted with a light layer of sweat. There was no denying the Jūbi was right; he had grown stronger over the years. However, he was only human, so the damage taken was relative to that of a normal man his age. His body was weakened even further due to the extraction of the Jūbi.

Time to put an end to this. With a silent command, the protective barrier shattered into pieces. Haō balled his fist in preparation of his next move, but a wave of pain in his chest stopped him in his tracks. He collapsed to his knees, going on all fours and hacking up many globules of blood onto the ground.

The Jūbi looked on with something akin to a pensive expression, **"It seems you have reached your limit." **Haō took deep breaths as he tried to calm his erratic heart rate,** "I cannot deny I am sorely disappointed and I ought to make you suffer for this poor excuse of a warm-up. However, I also cannot deny my respect for you, as you are, and will forever be, the only mortal, human or no, to defeat me in combat. So for this, I shall finish you off with the mightiest attack I possess."**

Haō watched silently as the Jūbi's tails were raised, so that the tips were arranged in a circle around its head in preparation for the formation of the Bijūdama **(Tailed Beast Ball)**, biding his time for the opportune moment to strike.

Small orbs of positive black chakra and negative white chakra congregated with each other, mixing together to create a large purple ball of destruction. As it began to descend into the Jūbi's jaws, Haō smashed his fist into the ground, creating a fissure which travelled to the Jūbi's foot, dislodging its footing and disrupting its concentration.

"Banshō Ten'in!" **(Heavenly Attraction of All of Creation)** With a flick of his outstretched hand, the Bijūdama was smashed into the Jūbi's head.

**"Gah!"** It cried, **"That pitiful excuse of a dragon did say it hurt, but I was not aware it hurt that bad!"**

Haō paid no attention to the ramblings of the Jūbi, choosing to place a palm on the ground and watching as several geysers of lava exploded out, hitting and burning the Jūbi relentlessly.

The Jūbi attempted to glare at Haō, but a chakra beam pierced a hoe through its chest, eliciting a cry of pain from the beast. However, even that cry was a mistake as a large cloud of corrosive mist entered its body, burning its lungs, along with anything else in its path.

Haō opened his arms wide, bringing them together slowly as he commanded two spikes to form out of the surrounding walls and pierce the Jūbi's sides. He stretched forth an open palm, chakra chains erupting from the ground to answer his call, binding the Jūbi's many appendages.

**"Haō."** The Jūbi growled, taking heavy breaths as its instant regeneration kicked in, **"Release me this instant."**

"You know I cannot do that Jūbi. Your power is too great to be left alone."

The Jūbi struggled against its bindings, but it was in vain. How could a pesky human be so powerful? No, scratch that - how could one such as itself be staring death in the face? Such things are preposterous!

"Onmyōton: Banbutsu Sōzō" **(Yin-Yang Release: Creation of All Things)**

Fear filled the Jūbi's being as the words that beckoned its death resonated through the air. With renewed vigour, the Jūbi thrashed against its confinement, roaring terribly, leaking its venomous chakra in an attempt to poison its prisoner.

**"HAŌ! YOU HAVE ANGERED ME RIKUDŌ SENNIN! I CURSE YOU! I CURSE YOU HAŌ! MAY YOUR HOUSE NEVER BE UNIFIED! MAY YOUR CHILDREN ALWAYS QUARREL AND SHED EACH OTHER'S BLOOD! I CURSE YOU HAŌ! I CURSE YOU!"**

As the Jūbi continued its rant, its body being torn up as its chakra was split into nine, Haō's blood ran cold as the implications of the Jūbi's words sank in. It was said that the curses of a demon were as unbreakable as steel itself.

But what made matters worse was that the curse was aimed at his sons, not himself. Since he was going to die soon, he wouldn't have been fazed by the Jūbi's words. He could try to convince himself that the Jūbi's curse would not be able to take hold, but recent circumstance blasted that thought into the air.

He could tell Sengoku was still bitter at being overlooked for leadership in favour of Hideyoshi, despite Haō's pleadings to support Hideyoshi in any way he could.

Now add the Jūbi's curse on top of that, and Haō came to a startling realisation.

The Rinnegan would never return to aid humanity again through normal means.

For one to wield the Rinnegan, they must have, or contain the potential to gain spiritual energy and chakra comparable to Sengoku's, and the physical energy and powerful will like that of Hideyoshi. Lacking one or the other will make the host unsuitable to wield such power, and will result their body destroying itself from inside out as it struggles to adapt to the Rinnegan.

"Jūbi- no should I say, Tobi." The Jūbi's one eye widened in shock, "You may think your curse will prevent the return of mine eyes, but as I stated earlier, I am able to prevent you from accessing my thoughts. Surely you remember my final words to Arashi-kun?"

The Jūbi gasped, oblivious to the fact that his tails were now disappearing, **"YOU-!"**

"My children may continue to fight for enternity, but know this Tobi… the Rinnegan _will_ return, its wielder _will_ reconcile my children together and my heir _will_ bring about peace!"

Tobi let loose a final roar full of pain, anguish and dismay as the last of its chakra was forcibly removed from its body. Its eye dimmed as its life left its body. Its tail-less body collapsed as gravity took its hold.

The Jūbi was dead.

With a mental command, Haō dismissed the chakra chains and concentrated on the nine balls of chakra. The orb right in front of him was the biggest out of the nine, with the one to its immediate left being half its size, and the one left to that one being half its size and so on.

_Tanuki, Nekomata, Kyodaigame, Monkey, Dolphin-headed horse, Slug, Kabutomushi, Ushi-oni and Kitsune._ Haō nodded appreciatively. Mirth twinkled in his rippled eyes and one would be hard pressed to believe he'd just come out of a battle to the death with a Ten-tailed beast.

The orbs began to take form into their respective shapes and Haō took the opportunity to use another Banbutsu Sōzō to return room to its former state, making it devoid of any evidence of a fight.

He smiled fondly at the confused expressions on the faces of the newly formed Bijū. It reminded him so much of whenever he took a young Hideyoshi to new places.

The nostalgic moment was cut short as he felt his body weakening. It was time to say goodbye.

"I won't be here much longer." he began, as he slowly turned so he could study his handiwork, "Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Gokū, Kokuō, Saiken, Chōmei, Gyūki, Kurama; you will always be together, even if you are separated. And one day, you will all become one; with different names… in different forms than you exist now. And unlike when you were within me, you will be led down the right path. When the time comes… for you to know what true power is…"

Once Haō finished his monologue, he patted the snout of Kurama, who was on the verge of crying. He cast his gaze over to the Jūbi's corpse, knowing what he had to do.

He clasped his hands together, slowly bringing them apart, revealing a small black orb. The orb floated above the Jūbi's corpse, its gravitational pull attracting the body along with surrounding pieces of earth. It wasn't long before a hulking ball of rock floated just below the sky and touching the earth. Haō used a grand scale **Shinra Tensei** to send it out of the Earth's atmosphere, into space where it was drawn into orbit by the Earth's superior mass.

His strength sapped, Haō dropped to his knee's, panting labrously. His attention was drawn to the whimpers and cries of the Bijū, bringing a melachonic smile to his face, "Children… please… don't… cry…"

He dropped onto his sides, his life flashing before his eyes. His breaths came shorter and the gaps between them increased.

_Please wait a little longer…_

His eyes lost its life and his breathing stopped.

_...Anna._

After countless battles, both physically and spiritually, and 97 years of age, the Rikudō Sennin's heart beat once more, before he died peacefully, and with a smile on his face.

**X.x.X.x.X**

A young boy of about seven years old strolled through the Forest of Death, expertly weaving between the various trees. However, if one were to take a closer look at the boys eyes, they would notice that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings as he was deep in thought

This was Namikaze Naruto, only son of Namikaze Minato and Kushina, and older twin of Namikaze Natsumi. He along with his twin sister were the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko.

According to their father, on the day of its sealing, the Kyūbi's chakra was split into two, the Yin half and the Yang half, with the Yin going to Naruto and the Yang Natsumi.

The more naïve and idiotic denizens of Konoha, in their infinite wisdom declared that as it is in the legends of old, Yin is associated with darkness and Yang with light, so by proxy, Naruto's half of the Kyūbi is evil and Natsumi's is good.

Naruto's predicament wasn't made any better by the two distinct spikes at the front of his hair which resembled horns. If anything they made him look like the 'devil' people made him out to be.

To make matters worse, his formerly sunshine blonde hair was now mostly platinum blonde with streaks of silver here and there, something which some of Naruto's overzealous haters claimed was evidence that 'the demon is taking over'.

Surely if that were the case, his hair would be turning orange, red or black?

Naruto kicked a rock out of his way, continuing on his path while twirling a rather large tree branch that resembled a staff in his hand.

"Stupid hair, making my life more of a piss-take than it already is." He attempted to flatten his 'horns', but to no avail. It wasn't surprising as Minato told Naruto he had them since birth.

Naruto stopped spinning his staff, grasping it near the top and began using it as a walking stick. He wandered aimlessly, content with letting the breeze wash over him, taking away his anger and concerns and thoughts.

So deep was he into his moment of bliss, Naruto failed to react to an attack until the

last possible moment, where he barrel-rolled to the right. In one smooth movement, he turned around, settling into a stance with his staff balanced between both hands and observed his opponent, his eyes widening for a small moment, before making way for a feral smirk.

A snake, bigger than anything that Naruto had every seen with the exception of his father's larger toad summons, glared at Naruto through its yellow slit eyes. Its head was easily larger than Naruto's small frame. A long, red forked tongue slipped out of the snake's mouth, wagging up and down as it tasted the air.

"So, you want to fight huh?" The snake hissed venomously as if it were answering Naruto, "Then bring the hell on!"

Taking a page out of Natsumi's training with their parents, Naruto channeled chakra to all of his limbs, greatly boosting his physical capabilities beyond that of a six year old. In a burst of speed, he leapt towards the snake, bringing his staff down heavily upon its snout, followed by a chakra enhanced axe kick.

The snake recoiled in pain, rearing it's mighty head back before lashing out, using its head as a club to send an airborne Naruto further into the forest. An angry glint in its eye, the snake gave pursuit.

Naruto rolled and tumbled over and over until he stopped at the base of a tree. His equilibrium was thrown out of whack by his movements, preventing him from getting up straight away. However it was only Naruto's danger senses screaming at him to get out of the way that made him force his way up - dizzy or no - and jump out of range of the snakes' lunge.

The hit tree made a reverberating groan as it collapsed due to its base being destroyed. Naruto's eyes widened in fear, _That could've been me!_ Danger senses tingling, Naruto leapt out of the way of another lunge before taking off into the forest with the snake giving chase.

It was only an innate sense of danger he seemed to have developed that saved him numerous times as he avoided the snakes' several lunges right before he was hit. He flooded his fist with chakra, so much that it began to glow blue and timed his strike so that once the snake was in range, he laid a powerful blow onto its snout, sending it into an adjacent tree with strength belying his age.

Despite being slammed into by the large snake, the tree didn't falter, but held firm. The snake recovered swiftly from its daze, hissing terribly at Naruto before plunging head first into the ground.

Naruto froze in his spot, watching the newly created hole with a frightful expression, _Is that normal? _He span on his heel and ran off in a random direction.

This proved to be his undoing as the tree's in this area were among the largest of them in the forest, with their roots being as tall as four to five feet. They were definently unsuitable for a young boy like him to run through. For each root he approached, he had to leap over them. It wouldn't be so hard if the ground didn't literally shake every four seconds due to an enraged snake diving into it and leaping out repeatedly as it chased him.

It was this action that proved to be Naruto's undoing as the displacement of the ground caused him to mistime his leap, which lead to his foot being snagged by the root and sending him to the ground in a heap.

He rolled over, rising to his knees, but it seemed more arduous than it should. As he was in the process of placing his left foot on the ground, Naruto found himself airborne without warning. The speed at which he was launched allowed him to reach the apex the 'flight' in no time. The buffeting winds shifted his form so that he could see the Hokage monument in the distance. He watched as it seemed to rise higher in the sky, before the canopy of the trees blocked his vision. Knowing that if he hit the ground - or anything solid for that matter - it wouldn't be a pretty sight, he immersed his body with as much chakra as he could muster. It wasn't much, but hey it's better than nothing ri-

His thoughts we're brought to a screeching halt as he smacked flush into a limb of a tree. Pain shot through his body, and despite his limited knowledge of biology and anatomy, he was sure he'd broken a few ribs.

"Gyaa..." A gasp of escaped from his lips. He tasted something metallic in his mind and immediately knew it was blood. Placing a hand on his tender side, sluggishly he rose to his feet, and watched the snake rush at him, jaws opened wide, intent on claiming its prize.

_Is this how I'm going to die? Is this what I've lived for?! Is my life just some kind of sick game to you, eh Kami!_ He gritted his teeth in pain, but it was overlooked as a sheer amount of raw determination coursed through his entire being.

The determination to live. To get stronger. To prove to everyone he was not some demons ready to explode at moments notice.

_I will make a name for myself! I will prove that I'm better than even tou-san! Better than Hiruzen-jiji! Hell, even better than the Rikudō Sennin himself! I will become better than them, and do what even they failed to do in life! I swear this on my life!_

So immersed in making his silent vows, Naruto failed to notice that time seemed to slow down so much that it stopped. His mind was assaulted with various images.

Fighting a monster with ten tail-like appendages.

Saying a command and the earth was cleared before him.

Gaining multiple limbs.

Commanding various animals to do your bidding.

Talking to a mass of people while showing them various hand-signs.

Many more images, or rather memories, bombarded his mind, causing him to shut his eyes in pain. It took a moment before he re-opened them, this time the iris and sclera were light purple and his eyes had a ripple-like pattern over them.

"I understand now."

As those three words were spoken, time returned back to moving at its normal speed and the snake bearded him with astonishing speed. Calmly he placed his right palm before him, facing the snake and unperturbed he was about to be swallowed.

"Shinra Tensei!"

* * *

**A/N:**

**And it's a wrap! So how was it? Good? Bad? Average? Drop a review and tell me your thoughts.**

**God bless.**

**-FS4TW**


	2. The Sage's Gift: Chapter 1

**Here's the next chapter, it's much shorter than my usual, but you'll be able to see a difference in character between this Minato, and the Minato in the original version. Thanks for the response for the last chapter, I really appreciate it. **

* * *

Chapter 1:

Fidgeting the hem of his shirt, Naruto stood silently, watching his father sign off some paperwork. He could hear Minato grumbling under his breath at the absurdity of some of the requests, forcing Naruto to stifle a chuckle.

Naruto didn't know what happened to his eyes, but he could now pick up details only the keenest, chakra enhanced eyes could. When he concentrated hard enough, Naruto was able to see the path his father's hand would take as it moved, predicting his movements if you may.

He had an inkling of a suspicion that he had somehow gained an eye-based Kekkei Genkai, like those stuck-up blind people with the creepy white eyes. Hopefully it'll be stronger than theirs or those stupid Uchiha's and their Sharingan. Now that will be so cool.

"The water's for you."

The sound of Minato's voice brought Naruto's attention back to the matter at hand. He blinked once.

"Huh?"

Minato looked up from his task, gesturing to the ceramic cup and pitcher at the front of his desk, "The water is for you, and for any visitor for that matter. Sarutobi-sama said something about making visitors comfortable, so despite you being my son, you are not a shinobi, therefore you are classified as a visitor."

Naruto merely nodded, hesitating for a second before proceeding to pour himself a drink. He downed it in one go, pouring himself another and another as he quenched his thirst. With a satisfying sigh, Naruto placed the cup down on the desk, glancing towards Minato to find a pair of blue eyes staring back at him.

"So Naruto, what happened back in the forest?" asked Minato, cutting the chase and getting straight to the point.

Naruto gripped the hem of his shirt once more, finding the floor very interesting, as an blush crept on his cheeks. He mumbled something that was lost on Minato.

Minato raised a brow, "Hm? Please speak up Naruto, and raise your head. I won't have you turning into a shy kid like Hiashi's girl."

Naruto complied with his father's wish, "I said I wanted to vent."

"Vent?" Minato's head cocked to the side, "You must've had a lot of repressed anger if you managed to create a crater about six meters deep and twelve wide with just a flare of your chakra."

Seeing Naruto's confused look, Minato explained, "When you did… whatever it is you did, I felt a lot of chakra being pumped into the Hiraishin seal's on your clothes, meaning that you were calling for help, flaring your chakra or performing a jutsu. From what I saw, I'd say it was the latter.

"Now, what I don't seem to understand is that to my knowledge, only Natsumi knows jutsu, but those are simple E-rank, nothing capable of causing that kind of damage. So Naruto, tell me… what _actually_ happened."

Naruto breathed deeply, recollecting the memories of the event and taking time to ensure he didn't overlook or forget anything.

"Well it all started when that fruit stall owner purposefully ignored me to serve others…"

As Naruto recounted his tale, exaggerating some parts more than the others, Minato listened, and nodding once in a while to show Naruto he was following.

"So then I glared at the snake and said something like Tinra Sensei? Or was it Minra Kensei?" Naruto mumbled to himself as he struggled to remember the name of his first jutsu, "No it was Shinra Tensei, yeah that was it, and then the snake went boom and the tree I was standing on dissapeared 'cos my jutsu was so strong and that's it."

Minato blinked once. Twice. Three times.

Naruto's story was as absurd as they come, but so was almost every seven year old's. Hell, even the ever calm and collected Uchiha Itachi had a bit of a mean streak in that department when he was seven.

However, despite the mass amount of pretentiousness Naruto weaved into his tale, Minato was able to discern what actually happened. He smiled inwardly, _So it finally worked huh?_ He nodded to himself, watching Naruto peering into the distance as he tested his new eyes out.

"Well you should take it easy for the next couple of days. Usually, when a child performs their first high ranking jutsu, they're often left exhausted as their body is not used to the strain so it has to adapt. For you, who have had no formal training of the sorts, the effects may be worse, though the Kyūbi may help ease the strain, but it will be better not to take any chances."

Naruto nodded once, "Got it tou-san." As he was about to leave the office, Minato called him back once more.

"Before you leave Naruto, Sarutobi-sama has been asking of you, so make sure you see him latest by tomorrow. Regardless, if you see him today, make sure you back for dinner on time, we're hosting Fugaku and his family today." Naruto visibly blanched at this new piece of information, "No don't give me that look, I want you to be on your best behaviour. I don't want a repeat of last time okay?"

Naruto nodded half-heartedly. Seeing this Minato dismissed Naruto, returning his attention back to the paperwork. The next in the pile was a scroll from Sunagakure, which he scanned quickly, filing away the important pieces of information. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he read the last sentence.

_Well this is interesting..._

**X.x.X.x.X**

Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a contented sigh as he worked on a mass transportation seal. The mechanics behind it was based on Minato's Hiraishin no Jutsu, with the exception that it was able to transport more than one person from one seal to another. Hiruzen knew that he should always be eternally grateful to Minato because retirement was a bomb.

Now that he was delivered from the monstrosity known as paperwork, he was free to do other things such as improving his knowledge in Fūinjutsu, after all the Professor had to be well versed in every aspect of the shinobi arts right?

Along with that, he was now able to do things he was severly denied of earlier in life, such as reading all of the Icha Icha volumes, conversing with the new generation of kunoichi's and joining Jiraiya in his - ahem - research. However, he knew he had to cut back on the last one. Tsunade was becoming more suspicious as to why he was needing so many blood transfusions as of late and he wasn't sure how much longer the sparring with Asuma excuse will work.

Hiruzen was brought out of his reverie by the sound of the front door sliding shut followed by the sounds of two voices conversing, both of which he knew very well. As the door to his study was drawn open, Hiruzen gave a fond smile to the visitor.

"Konnichiwa jiji."

"Ah Naruto-kun, how have you been?"

Naruto gave his surrogate grandfather a face-splitting grin, "I've been good. Sorry I haven't been able to see you earlier. I had a lot of things on my mind."

Hiruzen merely nodded. Being subjected to the cold treatment of the villagers on a daily basis was bound to take a toll on any person, more so on a child.

"So, what brings you to my humble abode Naruto-kun, not that I'm complaining mind you."

Naruto chuckled, "Well I've been meaning to visit for some time, but some things happened this morning which I want to tell you about."

Hiruzen placed his calligraphy brush back into the ink pot, making himself more comfortable in his seiza, "Well go ahead, I'm all ears."

Naruto took a seat on the opposite side of the low table, sitting crossed legged and began to narrate his story.

_So you are the Yogen no Ko._ Hiruzen mused, keeping an ear out to listen, but not actually paying attention. No, his attention was drawn to Naruto's eyes, _I suppose it's only fitting that you now wield the so called 'Eyes of Kami'._

Some half hour ago, Hiruzen, and he suspected everybody else within the Elemental Countries felt the second coming of the Rinnegan. There was no way to describe the feeling other than pure power.

Pure, _euphoric_ power, washing over your very bones.

Needless to say, Hiruzen was overjoyed to know that very soon, Naruto would be able to harness that boundless amount of energy and power and finally bring peace to this accursed world of hatred.

However, he was no fool. He knew that there were many who recognised that feeling, able to link it to the coming of a new era. He knew that there was those who planned on taking Naruto's power for themselves by any means possible.

But Hiruzen was not afraid.

He will bet everything on the Futarime no Rikudō.

* * *

**A/N:**

**So here you go, that's chapter 1. Hope you enjoyed it, review and tell me how I can improve.**

**God Bless.**

**-FS4TW**


	3. The Sage's Gift: Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

(2 weeks later)

It was a beautiful spring morning in Konoha. The tree's were in full bloom as were the flowers, and the weather was perfect, not too hot, but not cold either.

Today was even more exciting for Konoha, as it was induction day for the new students in the academy. Gathered outside the academy were various clan head's and heir's along with many more civilians and their children. They all stood facing the entrance of the academy, listening intently to Minato's introductory speech.

"So all of the teachers and I promise to do everything in our power to create splendid ninja out of each and every child gathered here today. There is nothing stopping them from surpassing even myself. Each and every child has the potential to become Hokage, and I swear upon my position as the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, that myself and the teachers will do everything in our power to bring forth this potential.

"I now declare the new academic year open and may the Will of Fire shine brightly through our children. Thank you."

The crowd burst out with cheers and shout of approval, many clapping with wide grins plastered upon their faces. Names of various children were called out, notifying them of their classroom and academy tutor for the next five years.

Naruto noticed that the majority of the clan heirs were grouped together into his class with a couple of civilian children whose parents had a high standing in society. He was also glad to note that though he was surrounded by many civilians, there wasn't any glares directed at him due to them concentrating on their child's future.

He followed his sister into a classroom where they took a seat next to each other at the back. Their new intructor stood in front of the blackboard with the name 'Umino Iruka' written on it.

Seeing as the class had settled, Iruka began his introduction, "Okay class welcome to the Academy, my name is Umino Iruka and I shall be your instructor for the next five years, unless of course, you graduate early."

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly. Something told him that the last part was aimed towards Natsumi, _Great, now I'm stuck with one of Natsumi's ass kissers for a teacher for the next five years._

"Now to get us properly acquainted with each other, why don't we go around the class to introduce ourselves?"

Naruto watched his classmates stand up one by one to give their names and ambitions with no large amount of interest. He recognised some of the clans such as Hyūga, Aburame, Inuzuka, and Yamanaka along with others. Much to his personal disdain, Sasuke was also in the class.

_This is going to be a long tenure._ Naruto internally sighed, _I guess I'll just have to graduate early._

"I'm Namikaze Natsumi, and my dream is to become Hokage, just like tou-san!" Natsumi chirped with a bright, contagious smile that had everybody save Naruto sporting grins of their own.

Seeing as it was now his turn to introduce himself, Naruto stood up with as much effort as a Nara and addressed the class, "My name's Namikaze Naruto, and I guess I just want an easy life."

He was about to drop back to his seat before a somewhat rowdy voice halted him in his movements, "You want an easy life?!" The Inuzuka boy - Kiba if he recalled correctly - shouted, "You're the son of the freakin' Yondaime and you don't think you have an easy life?"

_A __**very**__ long tenure._ Naruto glared at Kiba, watching with a sick sense of satisfaction as all the bravado and swagger left Kiba. One thing Naruto noticed over the past two weeks was that due to his Rinnegan, his stares seemed to unnerve people and glares made people want to get out of his line of sight with all haste.

"Living off the accomplishments of others is a pretty sad thing to do, _Inuzuka clan head-san_."

His previous discomfort forgotten, Kiba's eye twitched at the jab to his dream and rose to his feet to retort. Foreseeing Kiba's action, Iruka decided to intervene before things spiralled out of control.

"Kiba sit down!" Kiba complied with the command, albeit grudgingly, "I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in this class. We in Konoha put teamwork above all others and it is what differentiates us from the other Hidden Villages. That is why we are the strongest nation out of the great five. So Kiba, Naruto, I want you two to apologise to each other right now!"

Naruto and Kiba engaged in a staredown, one which was very one sided due to the intensity of Naruto's gaze. Seeing as they were getting nowhere, Naruto decided to be the bigger person, "Gomenasai Kiba-san, I didn't mean to mock your ambition like that."

Kiba smirked, his pride allowing him to believe that justice had been served. He began to turn in his seat so he could face the front of the class once more before he was halted in his tracks by the sound of Iruka clearing his throat. Kiba was afraid of the stern look Iruka was giving him and he knew if he didn't patch things up now, they'll come back to bite him in the ass later.

"Gomen Naruto, I shouldn't have spoken out like I did." He apologised begrudgingly. Naruto merely nodded at him before taking his seat once more.

"Now Naruto, would you mind telling us all how you're going to accomplish your dream?"

_He didn't ask anyone else how they're gonna do that._ Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly. "Well, I guess all the fighting has to stop, so there needs to be some sort of world peace. So I guess I will have to bring about peace and order-"

_**-Flashback-**_

_**"And who are you, pesky human that you dare to set foot in my abode?" **Alarge single eye stared down as malicious chakra seeped around. The eye was the only illumination in the cloudy night sky._

_"I am the one who will establish peace and order."_

_**-Present-**_

Iruka fought hard to suppress the urge to outright laugh and mock the boy right there. To believe that he of all people thought he could bring about peace… absurd! Preposterous!

"Alright Naruto, we understand your dream," the Chūnin instructor said with extra emphasis on the 'dream'. "But please, we don't have time for stories."

Naruto would've glared at the man, if he were not in a state of confusion.

_Where did these memories come from, heck why am I having them?_ Naruto thought as he retook his seat.

Iruka smiled at the class, "Now that we've put this whole fiasco behind us, why don't we continue with the introductions."

Naruto tuned out the voices of his other classmates as he brooded silently. As much as he despised the action, there was no other alternative as he couldn't vent at the moment.

He entered the academy with the hope of having a fresh start with his own generation, even making friends. However, he had an Inuzuka with an alpha-male complex, Uchiha freakin' Sasuke, some potential fangirls (he didn't miss the slighty predatory look that girl gave him), and a Natsumi fanboy for an instructor in his class.

Naruto hoped his torment didn't drive him to the point of seppuku.

"That was really smooth there Naruto." A voice from his immediate right brought him out of his thoughts. He turned his head to see Natsumi staring at him with a slight smirk playing on he lips, "I'm sure tou-san and kaa-san would be proud to find out that their son almost had a fight on his first day at school, with a clan heir no less!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his sister, before matching her smirk with one of his own, "Ah and I'm sure that Konoha would just _love_ to have a leader who can't stand up for themself, _Hokage-sama_."

Natsumi's smirk was wiped cleanly off her face as Naruto's words sank in. Unable to come up with a retort, she was about to report Naruto to Iruka before she realised that by doing so, Naruto's words would be spot on.

She glared at Naruto, who flashed her a foxy grin, _He planned it!_ Huffing with irritation, Natsumi sank deeper into her seat, folding her arms and pouting childishly.

Naruto averted his gaze to the clouds drifting by. The sight helped him to calm down, thus clearing up his mind. Now that he was able to think clearer, Naruto realised that it was foolish of him to think that he could become all chummy with people that he only knew for an hour at most. He realised that friendship takes time and the bond of trust needs to develop between individuals.

So Naruto decided to give his class a chance, even Sasuke.

**X.x.X.x.X**

(Six months later)

Naruto could now officially say he was at his wits end with the village. Over the last six months, some of the academy teachers made it their personal mission to sabotage his growth as subtly as they could, and once again the more over zealous villagers began to spread the word that the Kyūbi was controlling him and by proxy, well on its way to breaking free of its prison, all because of one fact.

He was the top contender for rookie of the year.

Naruto completely dominated the taijutsu and ninjutsu aspects of the curriculum. One would think that due to the Kyūbi being sealed within him, his chakra control would be shot to hell, but it turns out that it wasn't the case. Naruto thought it was a safe bet to say that he had the chakra control rivalling that of a medic-nin, but how he gained such a skill, he did not know.

He also excelled in individual work and strategy. Teamwork was a no go area as the majority of his peers with the exception of one or two found the idea of working with him revolting. When it came to general knowledge, Naruto was guaranteed to have one of the top three highest score, if not the highest.

Natsumi was placed in the middle of the pack. While she excelled in the Taijutsu portion, even better than her brother at times due to her training, the other aspects of the curriculum left a lot to be desired.

She was able to pull of a Henge and Kawarimi flawlessly, but it was the Bunshin no Jutsu that dropped her scores. Even without having half of the Kyūbi sealed within her being, the Uzumaki reserves both twins inherited from their mother was enough to shoot Natsumi's chakra control to hell.

When it came to teamwork, Natsumi was spoilt for choice as for who she opted to work with. Everybody in the class, save for a select few (Naruto included), was desperate for the 'prestigious privilege of working alongside Hokage-sama's daughter', meaning that Natsumi was always top of the class in this criteria.

One thing Naruto noticed, and he was sure that the teachers noticed it too, was that while Natsumi wasn't much of a strategist so to speak, she seemed to posses an innate ability to make plans on the fly that would be on par with that of a Jōnin when it came to sparring. Unfortunately for her though, written tests were not spars, therefore strategy was another fail.

Naruto's attention was drawn to happenings from within the sparring circle by the various jeers and boos directed at Shikamaru.

_Did he give up again?_

Shikamaru was somewhat of an infamous legend with his peers for his tendency to give up any spar before it even began. Naruto himself had fallen victim to this, annoying him to no small degree as he was eager to test out his capabilities against the intellect of the Nara heir.

"Why don't you actually try to spar for once Shikamaru? If you keep this up, you risk remaining as a civilian for life!"

Iruka's warning fell onto deaf ears as a single 'troublesome' was thrown his way.

Hearing the word civilians brought forth a deep contemplative frown to Naruto's face.

Word of his performance had spread among the civilians by the gossipers, meaning the parents of the civilian children in the academy. Needless to say, many were in an uproar about how the 'boy' was ahead of their saviour in the academy. Some even had the gall to suggest an inquiry into the system to search for sabotage.

Sabotage, Naruto mentally scoffed at the thought. If anything, an inquiry to be placed into the behaviour of the teachers. About a month or two ago, Mizuki had taken Naruto aside, 'curious' as to if Naruto was receiving help from his father that Natsumi wasn't.

He didn't bother to hide the glare he directed at Mizuki, who was congratulating Kiba over his win against one of their classmate's. Kiba was loudly boasting about his 'awesomeness', making no small effort to gain Natsumi's attention.

"Okay class, the next spar is going to be Namikaze Natsumi vs Hyūga Hinata."

The students roared in approval, jumping with joy at the prospect of seeing Natsumi fight.

_What's wrong with these guys? It's not like Natsumi hasn't fought before!_ Naruto mentally scoffed.

Casting his piercing gaze to his left, he picked up the hunched form of one Hyūga Hinata. He noted that the pressure must be getting to her, and decided to boost her courage.

"Good luck."

Hinata's head whipped round so quickly, Naruto feared it will snap. Her wide quivering gaze behold Naruto's own before averting to her feet. Blushing furiously and muttering a quick thanks under her breath, Hinata shuffled over to the sparing circle, taking up the symbol of confrontation as Natsumi did the same.

_Weird girl_. Banishing all thoughts from his mind, Naruto focused his full attention onto the upcoming fight.

"Alright girls, remember this is a Taijutsu only spar, full contact is allowed. Hinata, as the Jyūken revolves around the Byakugan, you have my permission to you it. The match is over if either of you submit, or I call it. Now Hajime!"

On Iruka's signal, Hinata activated her Byakugan, slipping into her Jyūken stance with ease as she awaited an onrushing Natsumi.

Once she was within striking range, Natsumi lashed out with a vicious right hook, which was parried by an open palm. Natsumi then brought her left knee towards Hinata's gut aiming to drive the wind out of the Hyūga. With the aid of her Byakugan, Hinata was able to see the incoming attack, and with perfect speed and precision, tapped Natsumi's kneecap three times in rapid succession.

Natsumi felt an immense amount of pain flooding her knee, jolting her concentration and effectively halting the attack. She attempted to throw a quick jab, but her fist was slapped away, and her chest struck in retaliation. Natsumi stumbled back, wincing slightly every time weight was placed upon her left knee, eyes wide in shock at the result of the short skirmish.

Her shock wasn't exclusive to herself, the rest of the class - Naruto included - were also in shock at the way Hinata held off Natsumi with ease.

Nobody could comprehend how the class mouse injured the lion with four moves. Natsumi growled with anger and charged onwards once more, intent on dealing out Hinata a large measure of pain.

Naruto watched in awe as Hinata's Jyūken held off Natsumi despite her unpredictable movements and training from their mother. Flooding chakra into his eyes, Naruto was able to see what others could not, with the sole exception of Hinata, which was the chakra pathway system of others.

Naruto noticed that despite Hinata repeadtly closing Natsumi's tenketsu, the Kyūbi's chakra continued to reopen them as it healed its host's chakra pathway system. Unless Hinata landed a debilitating blow, the match will eventually become a battle of attrition to see who will run out of energy first.

Natsumi was sent tumbling onto the ground, courtesy of another palm strike to the chest. Her eyes flashed red with rage as the pent up frustration threatened to burst out.

Why couldn't she hit the stupid girl? Natsumi's fingers dug into the ground, unearthing any loose dirt and shingle. Glaring at her opponent, Natsumi began to formulate a plan which made her to smirk maliciously. Naruto caught the smirk and narrowed his eyes as an uneasy feeling settled in his gut.

Natsumi rose again, her fists clenched at her sides, before running towards Hinata once more. She gave a large cry as she cocked back her fist, before letting it fly at Hinata's head.

Hinata watched the blow near her face, allowing it to pass over her head and keeping her eyes onto it, curious as to why a large amount of chakra was flowing out from the tenketsu in Natsumi's palm.

Natsumi smirked, _Gotcha._

Natsumi opened her fist, releasing a plume of chakra charged dirt that caught Hinata off guard and entered her eyes. The dirt served to blind her, while the chakra that coated it invaded her eyes, disrupting the use of her Byakugan.

Hinata's hands were immediately upon her eyes, trying in vain to remove the dirt from it. Seeing that as her cue, Natsumi released a devastating left hook onto Hinata's cheekbone. She followed this up with a snap kick to the gut, and began raining blow upon blow onto the blinded and defenceless Hyūga.

Naruto had caught onto Natsumi's trick, looking toward's Iruka to see if he noticed to and why he had not called the match already, but to his dismay, it seemed that Mizuki was serving as an adequate distraction for Natsumi to have her way.

Fortunately, the loud cheerings of the crowd brought Iruka's attention back onto the match, which he called in Natsumi's favour before rushing to Hinata's aid. Naruto immediatly made haste to confront Iruka. He passed a beaming Natsumi on his way, glancing at her with nary a frown, but his eyes conveyed to her of his feelings regarding her actions.

For Natsumi, staring into those purple orbs filled with hate and disgust, shook her to her very core. There was something about those eyes that seemed to strike fear into her very soul.

She did not like that one bit.

"Oi Iruka-sensei!" Iruka looked up from his task of helping Hinata clearing the dirt in her eyes, taking in the form of one Namikaze Naruto, "What was that about?"

"What are you talking about Naruto?" Iruka was confused.

Naruto narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, "Don't tell me you missed that! Don't tell me you didn't see Natsumi pour dirt into Hinata's eyes!"

Iruka gaped imperceptibaly, "Naruto, Hinata got dirt into her eyes by falling onto the ground, Natsumi didn't do anything."

"Are you kidding me! If that's the case, then why're you having such a hard time removing the dirt?" Seeing Iruka's stumped expression, Naruto pressed on, "Natsumi planned this; she telegraphed her movements on purpose so that she could throw dirt filled with chakra into Hinata's eyes!"

Iruka sighed exasperatedly, about to speak before another voice interjected, "Well what do you expect him to do about it?" Naruto faced the new speaker, his hands clenching into fists at the sight of Mizuki.

"Iruka's already announced the winner, you can't expect him to change his decision."

"I'm just saying, Iruka should've been focusing on the match instead of talking to you. That way, people won't be able to cheat like that."

Mizuki smirked, irking Naruto to no end as he itched to reach out and tear it off Mizuki's face.

"Naruto, what is the first Shinobi rule?" Naruto's nails dug deeper into his palms, breaking the skin and drawing blood.

"There is no honour in being a Shinobi."

"Exactly, that means that we ninja will use any means possible to attain a win, even if we have to resort to… _lowly_ tactics such as cheating. We are not Samurai who follow a code of honour."

Naruto made a move to retort but was stopped by the words of Hinata as Iruka helped her up, the dirt being cleared from her eyes, "I-It's o-okay N-N-Naruto, i-if I w-was m-more careful, I w-wouldn't have b-been caught o-off guard."

"Don't push yourself Hinata." Iruka chided lightly, "You still need to head off to the medical room to check for any internal damage. Once you've done that, you're free to go home."

Hinata nodded once at the Chūnin instructor, bowing towards him, "Dōmoarigatō gozaimasu, I-Iruka-sensei. Oyasuminasai."

"Oyasuminasai Hinata, take care."

As Hinata made her way towards the medical room, Iruka announced the next two combatants.

"Okay class, the final spar of the day will be between Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Please step forwards Sasuke."

From amidst the cheers of the crowd, Sasuke took his place opposite of Naruto, a smirk dancing upon his lips. His fingers were placed in the symbol of confrontation, as were Naruto's.

"Alright guys, remember the rules, Taijutsu only and a winner is decided only if I call the match or one of you gives up. Now Hajime!"

The boys met each other halfway, throwing out punches with their left fists and catching their opponents' with their right hand. The pair glared at each other as their eyes met.

Sasuke released his hold on Naruto, pivoting on his right heel before dishing out a roundhouse kick towards Naruto's gut, but It was pushed down as Naruto used Sasuke's leg for leverage to plant his foot directly onto Sasuke's face.

Sasuke's head snapped back and stars exploded across his eyes, clearing up just in time for him to make out a punch headed for his cheek. He ducked under the blow, rising with an uppercut ready to be unleashed.

Naruto merely sidestepped the blow, his impassive gaze meeting Sasuke's incredulous. Naruto drove his fist into Sasuke's gut, to which Sasuke folded over. Sasuke's chin was forced upwards abruptly by Naruto's knee followed by a roundhouse kick impacting against his chest.

Sasuke's body was lifted from the floor momentarily, prior to tumbling over. Sasuke quickly got back to his feet, teeth bared in a snarl, charging once again towards Naruto, who calmly watched his approach.

The crowd watched as Sasuke recieved a beating at Naruto's hands. Nothing he tried worked for him, even throwing dirt backfired as Naruto seemed to be expecting it and merely ducked.

Sasuke was flabbergasted. No matter how hard he tried to hit Naruto, he just couldn't. When he tried harder, it seemed like it was easier for Naruto to counter. He had to do something. So Sasuke started pumping chakra into his limbs to give him an extra boost, but it was all in vain as Naruto simply continued to overpower him.

It was then that Sasuke began to notice that he could see Naruto's movements before it hit. Idly, he wondered if he had awakened his Sharingan yet.

His musings were confirmed as positive once he began to hear mutterings and whispers of 'Sharingan' emanating from the assembled crowd, bringing a smirk to his lips. Feeling more confident, Sasuke pressed on harder, assured that he could now even the playing field.

A flurry of blows and another dirt eating session later Sasuke was eating his thoughts. Despite being able to see Naruto's movements, his body was simply not quick enough to react and counter accordingly.

This irked him to no end.

Even though he had awakened his eyes at the same age as his brother (months didn't count), Itachi had mastered them within six months. At the rate he was going at, Sasuke was sure it will take him a good three years or so to begin to grasp the complexity of the Sharingan.

How was he meant to impress his father!?

Now he'll just have to remain in Itachi's shadow for life, while trying to make something for himself.

At this point, Sasuke was visibly seething, his jaw grinding and fists clenched so hard they drew blood. In an uncharacteristic fashion, he let out a cry as he ran towards Naruto but soon found himself airborne, courtesy of a heel kick to the chin.

All rationale left his being as Sasuke's brain grinder to form a plan to put this done in his place once and for all.

Naruto watched with mild interest as Sasuke span around in midair, but came on full alert as the Uchiha began to make a series of hand seals. His hands flew to his face as a massive orb of roaring flame flew towards him.

Iruka watched in horror as the fireball consumed Naruto's being, his mind immediately concerned for the welfare of his student. This horror was turned to shock as the smoke cleared to reveal Naruto standing unharmed, but with his fist covered in fire.

Naruto tentatively lowered his guard, shock spreading across his being as took in the sight of fire covering his right hand, but not burning him in the slightest. The shock was turned into rage as Sasuke's actions settled on his mind.

_So you wanted to kill me with fire? Well I wonder how you'll like it if you were consumed by the flames of hell!_

Unknowingly, Naruto's thoughts in conjunction with his present feelings activated the Banbutsu Sōzō, turning the flame surrounding his fist into a searing black flame. With a roar, Naruto threw his fist forwards in a punching motion, releasing a horizontal column of black flames towards Sasuke.

The class was thrown into pandemonium over the recent events. Iruka, despite being in shock, allowed his Chūnin side to kick into gear, swiftly executing a Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to gather up Sasuke and carry him to safety.

Naruto panted slighty and small beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. That move that he just pulled off took a lot out of him, and now he felt more weary than he'd ever felt before. Naruto watched idly as Mizuki hastily made his way over to Iruka to check up on Sasuke.

Mizuki's eyes scanned over the shaken form of Sasuke as Iruka tried to calm the boy down. The Chūnin honestly couldn't blame Sasuke. To come so close to death at such an early age…

Swiftly turning on his heel, Mizuki made his way over to the rest of the class, who were rushing to check up on Sasuke, save for a select few. He raised his hands up in a placating manner which served to halt the children in their tracks, but in return, he was bombarded with questions from all sides.

"How is he?"

"Is Sasuke-kun okay?"

"Naruto-baka didn't hurt him did he?"

"Ne, ne Mizuki-sensei, why's Sasuke shaking so much? Did he wee on himself?"

Mizuki couldn't help but sweatdrop at the last remark before answering their questions, "Class, I can assure that no harm has come to Sasuke-kun, he's only a bit tired is all. However, the winner of the last spar was Uchiha Sasuke as Naruto-kun has been disqualified."

"What?!" Everybody turned to see the enraged form of Naruto storming towards them with looks that could kill, "Why the hell am I disqualified?!"

"Language young man, I strongly doubt Hokage-sama would be pleased to find out how brashly his son talks, especially those in authority." Naruto began to grind his teeth and clench his fist so hard that his knuckles began to turn white.

"And as for why you were disqualified, well it was because of your usage of Ninjutsu in a Taijutsu only spar."

"Then why aren't you disqualifying the teme? He's the one who tried to fry me with that big ass fireball!"

Mizuki glared slightly at the boy, leaking a slight dose of killing intent at him, confident that an academy student of his calibre would crumble under the pressure.

Imagine how he felt when Naruto simpy shrugged off the effects, before slamming Mizuki with a wave of his own KI. So taken with surprise, Mizuki almost succumbed to the effects of the KI, his knees jostling slightly before righting themselves.

Being an experienced Chūnin was what enabled Iruka to notice the usage of KI, allowing the man to intervene before things got out of hand.

"Mizuki!" Mizuki's head whipped round, a snarl present on his lips. Iruka mentally sighed with relief, he knew that if he hadn't intervened when he did, then it was quite possible that Mizuki would've done something very stupid.

"Naruto does have a point. Sasuke _did_ use a Ninjutsu first, though it wasn't anywhere near as harmful as Naruto's." Iruka's words shocked many, none more so than the boy in question. Never in his life would he have thought Iruka would stand up for him, and Iruka's actions just pushed him up a notch in Naruto's eyes.

"I believe we should discuss in private." Mizuki nodded in consent, following hos fellow Chūnin instructor to the edge of the fields where they conversed in hushed tones, so that even Naruto, who was using chakra to enhance his hearing, couldn't pick anything worthy of notice.

Sasuke sat in silence ignoring alltoo his fellow students questions. His limbs were still trembling, though it had reduced drastically. Sasuke wouldn't deny that if Iruka had not saved him, Sasuke would be nothing more than a pile of charred bones and ashes. It amazed him that an academy student such as himself was able to use such a Jutsu.

However, what struck him as odd, was that the flames were still burning with continuous vigor, showing no signs of stopping.

He looked up as Mizuki and Iruka returned from their decision-making.

"Okay class, after a thorough discussion and looking at the spar from various angles, myself and Iruka have reached a verdict. This match is hereby a draw!"

Naruto's accusing gaze settled on Iruka, who didn't even have the decency to look remorseful for his actions.

_Well it seems that even a toad can't change it's warts,_ Naruto chuckled dryly to himself, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Anyway, that's enough for today, many of us have to get back home for various reasons. I'm sure all of you are looking forwards to tomorrow?" The class all chorused in agreement with Iruka.

"Yep, I'm sure you are, so get yourself home and prepare yourself for tomorrow!"

And with those words, everybody made haste to their respective abode's, leaving Iruka standing in the middle of the fields.

Glancing at the towering obsidian flames, the Chūnin instructor suppresed a light shudder.

_Now how am I going to explain this to Hokage-sama?_

**X.x.X.x.X**

Dinner was turning out to be an interesting affair for the Namikaze family. Jiraiya, who was back in the village, was a guest, along with Kakashi, who had just returned from an S-rank mission in Kawa no Kuni.

And much to the delight of the family, Kushina made ramen for dinner.

Natsumi was wolfing down her dinner as if her life depended on it, and while Kushina was eating quickly, she was more elegant about it. Naruto, Minato and Jiraiya ate at a moderate pace, while Kakashi was reading the new volume of Icha Icha that was released only a week ago, having managed to finish two bowls of ramen in less than four seconds flat.

Naruto finished his bowl, deciding to wait for his food to settle a bit before going for a refill. His attention was then directed towards Kakashi, or rather, the book in his hand. Giving it a once over, he decided to voice his questions.

"That book seems kinda interesting," he said, breaking the silence of the room and drawing the attention of all but Natsumi to him.

"What's it about?"

Seeing an opportunity to create a pervert out of his godson Jiraiya was about to enter into a self-glorifying soliloquy, praising his genius for conceiving the Icha Icha series before he felt a tremendous amount of KI being released, halting him in his tracks.

His gaze shifted to the source, Jiraiya was pleased to note that Kushina's ire was directed at Kakashi not him, though he did feel a pang of sympathy for his fellow pervert, even more so since the young ANBU didn't seem to notice, bringing the question of how the boy joined ANBU in the first place.

Luckily for Kakashi, Minato protected him from potential castration.

"So how was your day in school children?" Naruto looked confused as to why Minato interrupted his question, but noticing the pointed look his father was giving him, he decided not to pursue the matter.

"It was really cool tou-san!" Natsumi had finally ate her fill of ramen, and her eyes gleamed with anticipated, her excitement so great that she struggled to stay still in her seat.

"We all had to spar today, and I won! I beat that creepy Hinata girl, and I didn't gloat just like you told me to, tou-san!" Naruto scoffed, a disbelieving smirk playing on his lips.

"Is there something you'll like to add Naruto?" Minato asked with a single brow raised.

"Yeah Naruto, or are you just jealous that I won while you drew?" Natsumi threw in her two cents.

This time, Naruto chuckled audibly, though the others could pick up the thinly veiled sardony as he topped up his bowl with a fresh batch of ramen.

"Whether I drew or lost, at least I didn't need to throw sand in my opponents eyes just because I was completely outclassed."

"Are you calling me a cheater?"

Naruto's head snapped to face his sister so fast that Minato feared he would attack her. "You know what you did imouto, whether or whether not you think that nobody saw you, I saw you, Mizuki saw you, Hinata knows of what you did, and most of all, you know what you did, so don't you _dare_ tell me that you're proud of your victory."

Natsumi smirked at her brother, deciding to rise to the challenge.

"Why Onii-san, for being a shoo-in for Rookie of the year, you sure are stupid." she replied in a very condescending tone. Seeing the apparent confusion on her brother's face, she elaborated further.

"What's the first Shinobi rule? Or have you forgotten what Iruka-sensei has taught us already?"

Jiraiya gave a slight whistle, "Wow she sure got you there gaki."

Naruto's eyes locked onto his in a flash like a hound on its prey, the purple orbs burning with anger.

"Piss off teme, this has nothing to do with you!" Naruto spat. He was about to round on Natsumi once more but he was halted in his tracks by a loud shout.

"NAMIKAZE NARUTO!" The only signs of acknowledgment from Naruto was his gaze meeting that of Kushina's.

"Do not ever, ever talk to your godfather - or any other guest like that again do you hear me?! I did not raise you up to be a foul-mouthed delinquent of the sorts so apologise right now!"

_You want it? Come and get some then!_ Naruto thought darkly.

"You know what Kaa-san, I'd have no qualms with listening to you," Naruto muttered.

_"If you actually raised me up that is."_

The whole family could only stare at Naruto in shock, hell, even Kakashi almost dropped his book.

Naruto began to glare at Kushina, "You never went out of your way to do something good for me, only providing me with the most basic necessities like food so others won't be able to accuse you of neglect. Everything you've done has been for the benefit of Natsumi.

"You are a bad mother Kushina. I'm ashamed to even have to call you my mother."

Silence descended on the dining room, broken only by the slight sound of slurping made by Naruto, who was consuming his dinner in a sedate and calm manner.

Kushina watched Naruto's actions as the rage and fury built up within her, KI spreading everywhere, paying no heed to who it affected.

"How dare you…" she whispered, her very tone giving Minato cause for concern. "You ungrateful little brat… HOW DARE YOU!"

Naruto merely looked at Kushina with apathy, taking slow, purposeful bites. Whoever said messing with other peoples head wasn't fun sure didn't know what they were talking about.

"FINE, IF YOU DON'T CONSIDER ME AS YOUR MOTHER, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW!"

Naruto smirked darkly. "In case you haven't noticed, this is tou-san's house. Everything here has been provided by him, not you s-"

"GET OUT!" Kushina roared, her hair flailing about wildly as her fist smashed into the table, shattering a good portion of it.

Deliberately rising slowly, Naruto bid them goodnight before going to his room. However if one looked closely enough, they would have seen a raging fire behind those purple eyes of his.

**X.x.X.x.X**

Orochimaru strolled towards the academy with a leisurely pace. There were rumours about in the grapevine that the Hokage's son had used a high level Katon Ninjutsu of the sorts in a spar. Normally such trivial matters wouldn't have roused Orochimaru's interest as he was busy trying to understand how the boy received the Rinnegan, and if it was even the real thing for that matter.

However, the deal breaker for him was the news that said jutsu could not be extinguished, even by high level Suiton users.

Now that was interesting, and Orochimaru was heading to see for himself if those rumours were true.

Giving a nod in response to the greeting of the Chūnin who was in charge of guarding the area, it wasn't long before Orochimaru found himself sweating from the searing heat of the towering black flames.

_Amaterasu? How interesting_, he mused. Procuring a storage seal from his weapons pouch, Orochimaru unsealed a torrent of water that soaked the ground he stood on. Ten handseals later, a large dragon made out water formed itself from the water and collided into the inferno, producing a hefty amount of steam.

Waiting for the steam to clear, Orochimaru smirked in a very snake-like manner when he saw that the fire was in no way affected. He then unsealed a bottle of water from another storage scroll, only this time, the water contained a large amount of salt. He threw the bottle into the fire and noted that salt water had no effect on the flames.

What? As a scientist he had to test every avenue before he could come to a conclusion.

He discreetly checked his surroundings, only withdrawing the final test once he was sure there were no spies. He removed the cap of the flask, once again throwing its contents onto the flames.

_Well, if urine sample is ineffective, then I believe these flames are the real deal._

Naruto had the Rinnegan, and most probably one with the exact same properties as the Rikudō Sennin's Rinnegan had.

_This is an interesting development._


	4. The Sage's Gift: Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Naruto woke up to the sounds of shuffling coming from the landing outside his bedroom. It took a while for him to get his bearings before he sat up. He listened to the sounds leaking into his room for a further five minutes before a somewhat loud puff put an end to it.

He placed his head into his hands, feeling more tired than one who just had an eight hour sleep should. His eyes drooped shut as memories from his dreams played across his mind's eye.

In his dreams, he was some sort of ninja who could freely use any element he so wished, including the famed Mokuton of the Shodai Hokage. He received a great deal of respect from many people and possessed a great deal of followers.

Normally this would have excited Naruto, as it was every young boy's dream to be the greatest, but one thing that shook Naruto to his core was the sheer amount of killing that he committed. Though he couldn't see the faces of his victims, there was something about them that gave away the fact that they were certainly not human.

The shrill ringing of his alarm clock brought Naruto out of his reverie. Naruto glanced at the calendar mounted on his wall and read the date.

October 10th 1907.

His and Natsumi's eighth birthday, except that his parents and family friends decided to only remember it as Natsumi's birthday.

He also remembered that this was the 'big day' as Kushina liked to put it. Apparently, Natsumi will be confirmed as some sort of saviour. And in order to do that, they had to go to some mountain of sorts in another world. Naruto only managed to pick up bits and pieces, but it was something like that.

Thinking of Kushina, Naruto dragged a hand through his silver-blonde locks and let out a weary sigh. He didn't mean to snap at her like that, but with the way everything was going along with the events of that day, Kushina's words just pushed him off the edge. He was just glad that he didn't physically lash out or else that would've put his plans into jeopardy.

Stepping out bed, Naruto went to brush his teeth and take a quick shower. He then returned to his room and pulled out a medium sized tan and black drawstring duffle bag. He began placing scroll that had various items sealed within them into the bag. Each scroll was labelled for easy identification.

Once he had finished packing, he surveyed his room. The sky blue walls were one of the things he loved about it, though he wouldn't have minded if it were orange. Naruto made sure that the room didn't look too devoid of items as not to arouse the suspicions of anyone.

Naruto replaced his bag back under his bed and went downstairs to the kitchen, where he whipped up a simple breakfast of instant ramen. During his meal, he let in the decorators to prepare the house for the upcoming birthday party.

It was through his fourth cup of the noodle delicacy that his family returned in a burst of smoke. However, they didn't seem to be in a good mood, especially Kushina and Natsumi, who was more confused than annoyed.

"Huh, I can't believe the nerve of him!" Kushina began her hands on her hips as she began pacing up and down. "Just who the hell does he think he is, saying that he's busy?"

Jiraiya adopted a pensive look, with his left arm across his chest and his right fist underneath his chin. "It's strange really. Ma and Pa gave me this specific date to bring Natsumi to confirm the prophecy with Ōgama-sennin."

Kushina marched right into Jiraiya's face, startling the man with her intense gaze.

"Well, are you _sure_ the meeting with the old coot was set for this date, not with the publisher of those stupid books of yours?"

Jiraiya grasped his shirt, just over where his heart would be and sighed in mock hurt. "Kushina-chan, you wound me! I would never get the date of something as important as this mixed up for anything! Besides, the meeting with my publisher is on the twelfth-"

"I DON'T CARE-TTEBANE!" Kushina interrupted, a blush lightly dusting her cheeks which she attempted to hide by turning her face from Jiraiya's view.

Unfortunately, the Gama Sennin caught said blush and gained a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Oh my, is naughty Kushina-chan using my books as material ne?" he finished, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Kushina's face turned red with anger and her fist smashed straight into Jiraiya's face, sending tumbling over a sofa. Her rage unquenched, Kushina marched over to the crumpled heap known as Jiraiya and began stamping the life out of him.

Naruto watched in mild amusement as Jiraiya began to plead and beg for the pain to stop. Shaking his head, he returned his attention to finishing off his breakfast.

He reflected on the whole situation about Natsumi being the Yogen no Ko and the Kono Yo no Kyūseishu. To think that the Ōgama-sennin truly belived such things…

_Well, if Natsumi is truly the Kono Yo no Kyūseishu, then this world is in more trouble than it thinks._

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto sat on a low wall in the back garden staring at the stars in the night sky as a cool breeze washed over him. The music from the house played in the background as a low hum. It was moments like these that Naruto could say he felt at peace. However, as fate would have it, this moment of peace was only temporary.

"Hello Naruto-kun," a silky smooth voice carried through the night.

Naruto suppressed a small shudder and turned to face the owner of such voice. "Konbanwa Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru smirked to himself at the show of respect. "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside celebrating with your family and friends?"

It was a rhetorical question and Naruto knew so. "Well I like the sky y'know? Seeing it at night always puts me at ease."

"I see," Orochimaru replied. He watched Naruto return back to his sky gazing now that he was more relaxed. "I couldn't help but notice that your eyes have changed." Naruto flinched. "What happened?"

Naruto didn't know how to answer the question and he really didn't want to lie. Despite his creepiness and weird mannerisms, Orochimaru-sama was one of the few people that actually treated him well, a luxury that Naruto wanted to retain at all costs. This thought in mind, Naruto told Orochimaru the tale of how he was bestowed with a Dōjutsu, but in a more subdued manner than he told his father and Hiruzen.

Once he had finished, Orochimaru smirked in a very reptilian manner. "Well I must say that your story is rather absurd, which makes it hard to believe." Upon seeing the subconscious pleading behind Naruto's gaze, Orochimaru's smirk became even more feral. "However, rarely would you ever find something in the Shinobi world that has a logical explanation to it."

The Rinnegan wielder let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and lowered his head. "Arigatō Orochimaru-sama."

"You're welcome Naruto-kun; it's nice to know that at least one of the Hokage's children has good manners."

Naruto blushed at the praise. Nobody had ever complimented him over Natsumi.

"But I do wonder," Naruto met Orochimaru's curious gaze, "did Minato ever inform you of which Dōjutsu you possess?"

Naruto's head tilted in confusion, "Errm, Hiruzen-jiji told me it was called the Rinnegan, but nothing else."

Orochimaru nodded. "Well that much is true but that is not all. You see, the Rinnegan has surfaced a few times, but the most significant of these wielders was the Rikudō Sennin."

Naruto's eyes narrowed in confusion. "The Rikudō Sennin?" he repeated. _Where have I heard that name before?_

Orochimaru nodded sagely, "Hai, the Rikudō Sennin, also known as the Kono Yo no Kyūseishu was the inventor of ninjutsu." Naruto nodded, showing that he was following.

"However, what is seldom known is that he was also the very first Jinchūriki."

It was this sentence that caused Naruto's brain process to stop momentarily as he struggled to come to terms with this new piece of information that had been revealed to him.

"T-The Rikudō S-Sennin was a J-Jinchūriki?" Usually Naruto would've berated himself for stammering as it was a sign of weakness, but right now, he just didn't care.

"I don't believe I stammered Naruto-kun."

Naruto was lost for words as so many questions passed through his mind at great speeds. He couldn't get his head around the fact that someone as revered as the Rikudō Sennin shared the same burden that Naruto did.

"W-Which one?"

"By 'which one', I assume you wish to know of which Bijū the Rikudō Sennin carried?" Naruto nodded, showing it indeed was the question he wanted to ask. "Well, the Rikudō Sennin was the Jinchūriki of the Jūbi."

Once again, Naruto was thrown into a loop by this new piece of information. Just over a minute ago, Naruto was absolutely confident that there were only nine Bijū in existence. It was common knowledge to even the most unversed civilians in Shinobi matters.

"Chōmatte **(Wait a minute)**!" Naruto exclaimed, his first two fingers pressed on his temple to ease the throbbing headache that had sprung up. "Jūbi? Since when has there ever been a Jūbi? As far as I'm – and everybody else in this world – is concerned, the Bijū only go up to the Kyūbi!"

_If only you knew..._ Orochimaru mentally shook his head at the naivety of the boy before him. "You will do well to remember everything I am about to tell you as I shall not repeat myself.

"Within you and your Imouto is but a mere portion of what was once known as the Jūbi. Every other Jinchūriki out there, whether they hold the Ichibi or the Nanabi are also privy to the Jūbi's power, despite it only being a mere candle to the full might of the Jūbi.

"You see, the Jūbi is the fused form of all the Bijū, or rather should I say; the original form. I am sure you've heard of the tales of the Kyūbi's strength?"

Naruto nodded once, "With just a single swing of its tail, it can level mountains and create tsunamis."

"Yes, now imagine that sort of power, but amplified by nine times, imagine the power to swallow oceans, split lands, to carry mountains! If you can successfully do so, then you, my boy, should have no trouble in believing in the existence in the Jūbi."

"But what I don't get is if there was a Jūbi, then where is it now and why is there nine Bijū instead of one?" Naruto protested.

"Ah, I was just coming to that Naruto-kun." Orochimaru smirked at Naruto's sheepish expression. "Let me ask you a question Naruto-kun and I want you to give me a honest answer." Naruto nodded, giving the scientist the go-ahead to proceed.

"If I were to kill you now, where do you think you'll go?"

Shock overrode Naruto's emotions as he came to terms with what was just said. Orochimaru couldn't help but chuckle in a very villainous manner as he watched the boy scoot back.

"M-M-Matte Orochimaru-sama! P-Please, I d-do-don't w-want to d-die! Y-Y-You wo-wont gain a-anything o-out of k-killing m-me!"

"Please stop your irrelevant whining and answer the question Naruto-kun."

"H-Hai!" Naruto squeaked, but inside, he was in disarray, mentally bawling his heart out, _My life! MY LIFE IS IN DANGER!_

"E-Erm-" he began but was cut off by the sharp command to stop stuttering. "G-Gomen! I mean, Gomen!"

Orochimaru sweatdropped. "Please just get on with it."

"Hai, well if you were to kill me – please don't! – I would probably go to heaven, be reincarnated or worst comes to worst, go to hell."

Orochimaru nodded, though he had to resist a facepalm when Naruto sneaked in a little plea into his answer. "Okay, so what do you think will happen to the Kyūbi then?"

Naruto's brows furrowed in concentration as he pondered on the question. "Well, I read in a book from Tou-san's library that when a Jinchūriki dies, their Bijū 'dies' with them, but since they're a mass of chakra, not living beings, they reform back into their original forms after a period of time."

"You are correct Naruto-kun. I am glad to see one so young such as yourself taking an active interest in the pursuit of knowledge." Naruto blushed from the praise once more, his previous discomfort all but forgotten.

"While you are correct in your findings, I'm afraid that such rule doesn't apply to the Jūbi due to its immense power. You see; if the Rikudō Sennin was to die, then the Jūbi will be released in an instant, free to do as it pleased. It was for this reason that the Rikudō Sennin came up with a failsafe pl-"

At this point, Naruto was assaulted with a memory he had no knowledge or remembrance of.

_**-Flashback-**_

**"Haō."** The Jūbi growled, taking heavy breaths as its instant regeneration kicked in, **"Release me this instant."**

"You know I cannot do that Jūbi. Your power is too great to be left alone."

The Jūbi struggled against its bindings, but it was in vain.

"Onmyōton: Banbutsu Sōzō." **(Yin-Yang Release: Creation of All Things)**

With renewed vigour, the Jūbi thrashed against its confinement, roaring terribly, leaking its venomous chakra in an attempt to poison its prisoner.

**"HAŌ! YOU HAVE ANGERED ME RIKUDŌ SENNIN!"**

_**-Present-**_

_What the hell was that?_ Alarmed, Naruto glanced to his left and right to see if anyone else had been affected too.

"… have a more… bastardised version if you may called Izanagi, but with a lot of drawbacks-"

It didn't seem that way as Orochimaru continued with his soliloquy undeterred and only the two of them were occupying the gardens at the moment, the rest being too engrossed with making small talk or watching Natsumi open her presents.

"But Naruto-kun, there is a reason why I am telling you all this, and it is because I would like to make you a proposal."

This piqued Naruto's interest. "A proposal?" he asked. "A proposal for what?"

"Let me ask you something," Orochimaru began to pace up and down with his arms folded across his chest. "Who are the strongest ninja you know on a personal level?"

Naruto scratched his head for a moment as he made a mental list of the strongest ninja he knew. "Well there's Tou-san obviously, and Hiruzen-jiji, then there's Jiraiya-sama… Tsunade-sama, you… and I guess Kush- I mean Kaa-san is pretty strong too. That's about it, Kakashi-san is apparently strong but he seems like a baka to me." Naruto mentally berated himself for his near slip-up.

Ignoring the last comment Orochimaru stopped his movements, opting to meet Naruto's gaze and proceed with his queries, "Now let me tell you something. If any of those who you listed were to go toe to toe with the Rikudō Sennin, even if we go all at once, we will all be completely and utterly decimated."

The Rinnegan wielder's eyes widened in shock. From all that was told to him from Orochimaru about the Rikudō Sennin, he deduced that the guy had to be somewhat badass, but to be able to 'completely and utterly decimate' all of Konoha's finest ninja at once… well that's kinda hard to belive.

But Naruto took it with a grain of salt, giving his assent to Orochimaru to continue through a nod.

"In fact to be honest, there are only two people in the history of Konohagakure no Sato who would be able to stand up to the Sage for a short while before being crushed. Those two were the Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama and the former head of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Madara. In fact, with the sole exception of two individuals, only Hashirama has come close to reaching the Rikudō Sennin's level.

"And that is why I would like to train you Naruto-kun."

Not sure that he heard right, the silvery-blonde responded in the most intelligent way possible.

"Huh?"

Orochimaru smirked in the most non-menacing manner he could conjure. It just wouldn't do to make Naruto even more afraid of him than the boy already was.

"I said I would like to train you." He repeated.

As the man's word's sunk in, Naruto's eyes widened to unknown proportions before narrowing as suspicion crept in.

Whenever Naruto heard someone giving out an offer of training, it was usually a high ranking ninja offering to train Natsumi since everybody wanted to have the 'ultimate privilege' of training the saviour of Konoha. Nobody ever wanted to train him as he had an 'evil aura lurking about him'.

But now, a high ranking ninja – a Kage-level one that – who was also a member of the Densetsu no Sannin and known for his supreme intellect in the ninja arts second only to Hiruzen-jiji not only took a special interest in him, but also wanted to train him?

Now that was enough to put Naruto on guard.

He lowered his head, fists sitting on his lap clenched tightly, and his eyes were hidden behind a shadow. "Why?"

"Why would I want to train you?" Orochimaru asked, knowing fully well it was the right answer.

Naruto stood up abruptly and levelled Orochimaru with a glare so strong; it sent shivers of delight through the snake summoner. "Yes! Why would someone like you want to train me huh? Why don't you train Natsumi like everyone else does? Or better yet, is this just a ploy to get close to Natsumi so you can ditch me for her, because if it is, I swear to Kami I will never forgive you!"

Rant finished, Naruto took several deep breaths to calm himself down and Orochimaru waited patiently for him to do so. "Are you done now?" Naruto nodded. "Can I give you my own reasons now?" Naruto nodded once more. "Good.

"The reason why even someone as great as the Shodai Hokage would've never reached the level of the Sage is because of his own limitations. While he had a Kekkei Genkai, and a very powerful one that, it was only one Kekkei Genkai. While Hashirama's chakra reserves can be compared to that of the Bijū, it wasn't limitless.

"Now you Naruto-kun are the only person in the Elemental Nations who has the potential to become the Rikudō Sennin's equal or even surpass him all together. You possess the Rinnegan, giving you access to every single non-ocular Kekkei Genkai and the means to master elemental nature transformations to the highest possible degree.

"He was the Jūbi Jinchūriki, and you are the Kyūbi Jinchūriki." Orochimaru pointed directly at Naruto. "You have all the materials needed to make you a juggernaut, yet you are overlooked by everyone in favour of your Imouto.

"I, for one do not intend to make such mistake, which is why I am offering you the chance to become my apprentice."

Naruto's glare mellowed out and his head lowered with shame. He had jumped to conclusions and let his fiery temper get ahead of him and almost lost this opportunity as a result of it.

But even despite being offered this chance, Naruto still felt somewhat wary of it for reasons he did not know.

Sensing Naruto's inner turmoil, Orochimaru continued on. "You don't have to give me your answer now, sleep on it and think through it carefully. I would like an answer preferably by the end of the week."

Naruto nodded, happy for the time of reprieve. He gave a small bow. "Arigatō, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru smirked. "Think nothing of it Naruto-kun; just make sure you think about this carefully." The man began to walk away.

"I will, Orochimaru-sama. Arigatō and Oyasuminasai." Naruto bowed once more, as he watched Orochimaru walk away.

Orochimaru, face out of sight, licked his lips in anticipation. _Kukuku, now all the boy has to do is accept the proposal and then I can proceed_, he thought, before disappearing via the use of a Shunshin.

Once the leaves from Orochimaru's Shunshin had settled, Naruto collapsed onto his bottom and sighed wearily. There was a lot to take in and his throbbing headache didn't make things any easier.

"Naruto-kun." A voice shook the boy in question out of his musings and brought his attention to one Uchiha Itachi.

"Konbanwa Itachi-san." Naruto greeted with a smile which the young Uchiha returned. The two had become somewhat friends after a chance meeting in which they found out they both had the same ideals for peace.

"Konbanwa Naruto-kun, Kushina-sama requests your presence for the cake cutting." Itachi responded.

"Hai." The silver-blonde rose from his seated position and headed into the house with Itachi in tow.

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto walked through the large gathering of people towards the small clearing in the middle of the lounge where a small table was set up. Minato and Natsumi were already waiting for the boy to arrive so that they could cut the cake. Naruto stood next to his sister, ignoring the harsh looks sent his way. He especially avoided the gaze of a certain Uchiha clan head, who was less than pleased that his son got beaten in a spar.

The lights dimmed as Kushina came out of the kitchen holding a large square cake with eight lit candles. As she made her way towards the table, the people in attendance began to sing happy birthday to the twins.

Kushina placed the cake on the table, smiling at the twins. Despite her treatment of him, Naruto still took pride in the fact that his mother was beautiful. Once the singing reached its climax, Natsumi and Naruto blew out the candles and shit their eyes to make their wishes.

_I wish that I won't be caught when leaving tomorrow and for protection. Also, I hope that you will protect my family. _

Naruto opened his eyes and placed his hand behind his sister's on the knife and cut the cake.

"Say cheese!" Jiraiya had whipped out a camera from nowhere, taking the picture with a bright flash. Naruto had managed to give a small but genuine smile.

As the people closed in to get a slice of the cake – who could blame them? Kushina's cooking was a thing of legends – Naruto made his way towards his room. It was already late and he had an early start ahead of him tomorrow.

Just as he was about to enter his room, he was stopped by a voice.

"Isn't it a bit too early for bed Naruto-kun?" Naruto shifted his gaze to Itachi who gave him a small smile.

Naruto returned the smile. "I think a fever is brewing so I want to sleep it off."

"A headache eh?" Naruto nodded. "I was under the impression that Jinchūriki weren't affected by trivial things like that."

Naruto had the decency to look sheepish. He was caught red handed and Itachi knew it. Luckily for him, Itachi decided not to dwell on it.

"Here," he handed Naruto a small rectangular box. "Happy Birthday."

Naruto took the box. "Arigatō Itachi-san." He opened the box to the sight of the most beautiful necklace he had ever seen. It had six ruby magatama strung along it, giving off an ethereal glow. Deep inside his being, he heard Kurama gasp in surprise, but paid no mind to it as he was entranced by the beauty of the necklace. "Gomenasai Itachi-san, but I can't accept this," he held the box back towards Itachi.

"Nonsense, it's your birthday Naruto-kun. Beside I have no use for it," Itachi pushed the box back to Naruto.

"B-But it must have cost a fortune!" he protested.

"Actually, a travelling storyteller gave it to me when I was in Suna a couple of years back and it's just been gathering dust on top of my closet," Itachi explained.

Naruto opened his mouth to retort but decided against it as he continued to gaze at the necklace. He gave Itachi a deep bow. "Arigatō Itachi-san, I'll never forget this."

"It was nothing," Itachi waved him off. He began to leave but stopped at the top of the stairs. "But Naruto-kun, whatever you're planning to do, make sure that you don't get caught," he said suddenly with the utmost seriousness, one that was befitting of an ANBU captain. "Don't trust anybody, but don't isolate everybody that tries to get close to you. Finally, if you happen to see Orochimaru again, leave immediately."

"You saw?" Naruto asked, shocked that Orochimaru didn't seem to be aware there was an eavesdropper.

Itachi closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I did, but let me tell you something Naruto-kun, and this applies to many other people as well. Orochimaru only has his best interests at heart. Regardless of whether or whether not you accept his offer for training, he will get what it is he is seeking to gain. You need to be wary of him Naruto-kun."

Naruto sighed and nodded. "I will Itachi-san."

Satisfied with the outcome Itachi allowed a small smile to grace his features. "Oyasuminasai Naruto-kun, and take care."

Naruto's gaze lingered at the spot where his friend previously occupied. He looked back at the necklace, a small smile adorning his features.

_Arigatō Itachi-san, for everything__… _

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he got up fully dressed. The dawn sunlight streamed through closed curtains, providing the only illumination in the room, not that Naruto needed it. Naruto brought out his bag from beneath his bed, doing some last minute packing. He was about to pack the necklace, but decided against it, opting to wear it instead. It seemed to fit him perfectly, as if it were made for him.

Naruto threw his bag over his shoulder and placed a black hooded cloak over his wiry frame. He slipped on his sandals. Naruto channelled chakra into his eyes, switching it into chakra viewing mode so that he would only see the chakra of nearby others.

Once he had located the positions of the various ANBU's that were thankfully asleep, probably due to excessive drinking during the Kyūbi festival, he made his way down the stairs towards the lounge, to which he was greeted with the sight of a sleeping Jiraiya and Tsunade in a very provocative position. Naruto blushed furiously as he noticed just where Jiraiya's hand was…

Naruto hastily removed his gaze from the sight, settling it on the form of the last person he wanted to see at the moment.

His father, Namikzae Minato, clad only in his boxers and with a glass of water in his hand.

Minato stifled a yawn as he analysed the way his son was dressed and deduced he was going somewhere, most likely outside of Konoha and for a while if the bag and cloak were any indication.

Naruto tensed, his leg muscles readying themselves for fight or flight as Minato approached him. Seeing Minato's hand closing in on his head, Naruto shut his eyes in slight fear, but was thrown in a loop as he felt the hand on his father placed on his head.

"Take care."

That was all he heard before the soft tell-tale patter of the Yondaime's feet signified him head to his bedroom.

Naruto's eyes widened minutely. What was that all about? Deciding to banish all thoughts from his mind and concentrate on the task at hand, Naruto left his home with all haste.

X.x.X.x.X

"Come on in Naruto-kun," Hiruzen ushered in said boy into his house. "Asuma-kun should be in position by now so we can start when you're ready."

Three months ago, Naruto had expressed his desire to leave Konoha. Hiruzen had unsuccessfully tries to convince him otherwise, so instead decided to aid Naruto by making a safe exit from the village.

Unknowingly to Naruto though, Hiruzen had pulled some strings in order for Naruto to receive training from an old friend.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your birthday party yesterday Naruto-kun," Hiruzen apologised looking rather sad as he made his way to the study.

"It's ok Jisan, you had your reasons." It was no secret within the inner circles slash upper echelons of the shinobi system that the Yondaime and Sandaime didn't see eye to eye. In fact, the only time they really spoke was during council meetings.

The duo entered the room and Naruto was greeted to the sight of a large sealing array drawn across a large parchment placed into the middle of the room.

"Is this it?" asked Naruto as he peered at the seal with awe.

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes, the anchor is with Asuma-kun at the moment."

The Yuhaisō Fūin **(Transportation and delivery seal)** is a seal that Hiruzen invented during his Fūinjutsu studies that was loosely based on the Hiraishin no Jutsu **(Flying Thunder god Technique)**. Instead of only being exclusive to the usage of one person like the Hiraishin, the Yuhaisō Fūin is able to transport up to five people at one time from the sender seal to the anchor seal via the use of a Jikūkan jutsu-shiki **(Space-Time technique formula)**.

Naruto stood in the middle of the seal and faced his adoptive grandfather.

"Well," he began, feeling more nervous than he had ever felt. "I guess this is it."

Hiruzen smiled fondly at the young Rinnegan wielder and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry Naruto-kun, it's not like you'll be gone forever."

"I know that! But you know… I'm not gonna be able to see you guys for a while," Naruto protested.

Hiruzen sighed and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and got to a knee so he was eye level with Naruto. "Promise me something Naruto-kun. Promise me that by the time you return, you'll have accomplished what many others could only dream of accomplishing. Find the answers to questions that have plagued this world for centuries and most of all, become strong enough to protect your loved ones."

Naruto looked up with a determined look in his rippled eyes. "I will Jisan."

Hiruzen got up and smiled down at Naruto. "Thank you my boy."

"I'm gonna miss you y'know. Look after Natsumi for me, she seems confident on the exterior, but she's still… y'know young – not that I'm old or anything!" Naruto chuckled alongside the adult. "But yeah."

Hiruzen enveloped the boy in a hug, slipping a few scroll into his bag without the silvery-blonde knowing. He got up and came to the edge of the sealing array, where he placed a hand down onto a small space.

"Ready?" Naruto nodded in response.

Channelling chakra into the space, the black ink on the jutsu-shiki began to glow blue. The blue light spread across Naruto's form, the force of the chakra causing slight disturbances in the air. The blue abruptly turned black and Hiruzen found himself awed at the sight of Naruto's glowing Rinnegan was the only visible feature while the rest of Naruto's body was bathed in darkness.

"Arigatō Jisan." With those words, Naruto was teleported away.

Hiruzen solemnly gazed at the now empty spot on the seal. "Stay safe… Naruto-kun."

**X.x.X.x.X**

Once his body had landed, Naruto was immediately struck by a sense of vertigo. He quickly ran to the nearest bush and dry heaved.

"Take it easy there kid." Naruto felt a hand rubbing his back and recognised the voice of one Sarutobi Asuma.

Once he had regained his composure Naruto turned to thank Asuma before a bottle of water was thrust his way. After muttering a quick word of thanks, Naruto downed the clear liquid, relishing the feeling of it soothing his sore muscles.

"How are you feeling now?" Asuma asked before taking a long drag from his cigarette.

Naruto nodded and quickly swallowed before responding, "Much better now, thanks Uncle Asuma. I wonder how the hell Tou-san does it so often."

Asuma shrugged nonchalantly. "Meh, you get used to it after a while." Upon seeing Naruto's confused look, the young Sarutobi elaborated, "Who do you think was dad's test subject? I had to make sure that when you use it, you'll make it in one piece."

Naruto chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "Ah sorry 'bout that!"

Asuma released a plume of smoke. "Don't worry about it kiddo; besides at least this way you won't be caught by the barrier squad." Naruto nodded. "Anyway, I guess you should get going but before that I just wanna say thanks for helping me and dad patch things up between us… things were getting pretty bad y'know."

Naruto smiled softly. "I'm glad I was able to help, nobody should really be at odd with their parents," he finished with a small frown, reflecting on his relationship with Kushina.

Asuma caught the look of sadness and couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. A child of his age shouldn't have to go through such things.

"Stay safe kid. I know that one day, you're gonna be one hell of a ninja," Asuma said truthfully.

Naruto perked up and blushed in embarrassment at the praise. "Thanks Uncle. Take care as well and look after jiji for me."

Asuma merely nodded in response, a small smile adorning his features as he watched Naruto take off into the forest.

_And may the Will of Fire be with you always…_

* * *

**A/N: **

There you go guys, chapter 3 of Twilight Chronicles. As you can see there are many changes between this chapter and the original like Orochimaru's meeting and the way Naruto leaves Konoha. Minato's behaviour will be explained soon enough, but not for a looong while. I hope you enjoyed it, I enjoyed writing it.

I just discovered my local WHSmiths (or bookstore for those of you who live outside of England) sell Naruto, Bleach and One Piece manga volumes amongst others. I'm gonna start buying them and I ask that those of you who can should buy them also. Many of us manga readers only read it online for free, but I believe that we should help support the cause in any way we can.

Also on another note, I'll be needing a beta reader. Yep I've swallowed my pride and decided to ask for help. If anyone's interested, just drop a review or a PM and I'll get back to you.

Ja ne.


	5. The Sage's Gift: Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Naruto walked around the town, his eyes taking in the sights in slight wonder. The place was so different from Konoha, especially the people, in a sense that everyone minded their own business. In Konoha, you'd find the gossiping moms in the park while their children played under their watchful eyes and the fathers were either managing the family business or on duty for the village.

In this place – Nami, he remembered – had a completely different atmosphere. The men were mainly labourers with scarred and rough faces and muscular arms as proof of their hard work. The children, instead of playing with each other seemed to be content with throwing kunai's at the rotting carcass of a pig.

All in all, everyone seemed to be completely dedicated to their work.

As he pulled his cloak closer to his body, Naruto took in the salty atmosphere. It was strange sort of feeling – peace, and the sort of peace that came from not being in the spotlight. No fake smiles, no gossiping behind his back, no annoying little sisters, no… _nothing_.

Here he wasn't Namikaze Naruto, just a young boy of eight years old with weird hair and strange but powerful eyes. This brought a small smile to his face but it was short lived as his stomach grumbled in protest.

Naruto blushed in embarrassment, despite no one seeming to be aware of the sound and began to search for a restaurant of some sorts.

Though he didn't find a restaurant, he did find a grocery from which he picked up a simple bento filled with rice, smoked salmon and cooked vegetables.

"That'll be… 5000 ryō please," stated the shopkeeper. Naruto fished out his wallet, pulling out five 1000 ryō notes and handed it over to the woman.

Naruto left the shop and found a small bench in on the outskirts of Nami to sit and each. As he delved into his meal, Naruto reflected on the past three days. So much had happened from the training offer from Orochimaru, to leaving Konoha in order to explore the world.

Another thing that Naruto took notice of was the issue of money. Back in Konoha, his parents didn't really give Naruto and Natsumi pocket money per se; it was more of a reward system that when they accomplished something such as 100% in an Academy pop quiz or executing a jutsu properly on first go.

Needless to say, Natsumi was the recipient of many of those rewards due to the absurd amount of jutsu taught to her by their mother.

Despite that, Naruto did manage to save a hefty sum, but he was under no illusion that it wouldn't run out. He knew that in order to survive, he'll need to get a job for some income.

Naruto stood, his now empty bento box grasped firmly in his hand and set off back into the shopping district with the sole purpose of finding a job.

X.x.X.x.X

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat at his low dining table in a seiza position, his unwavering gaze locked with that of Minato's. The tension between the two men was so thick; the atmosphere became oppressive to the other occupants of the room.

About three hours ago, Konoha was in a slight state of panic as they searched high and low for the missing son of the Hokage to no avail. Some thought that the 'demon' had finally got his own, but some of the more paranoid conspiracy theorist say that the Sandaime Tsuchikage, Ryōtenbin no Ōnoki flew into Konoha, kidnapped Naruto to brainwash him and use him as some sort of secret weapon against Konoha in the coming years. Hiruzen could only shake his head at the wild imaginations of some people.

Some five minutes ago, much to Hiruzen's expectation, Minato and Kushina turned up on his doorstep in their search for Naruto. He begrudgingly permitted them entrance into his home despite the silent pleas from his son.

Which now leads us to his current predicament. Deciding that the tension may escalate into a fight of sorts, Hiruzen decided to break the silent.

"So what can I do for you Minato?" Minato took notice of the missing '-kun' at the end of his name.

"I was wondering if you know of the whereabouts of my son," Minato replied.

"And why would I know that? Isn't that the one of the many jobs of parenthood?" Hiruzen asked.

Kushina sighed impatiently. "If we knew, we wouldn't be asking you."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the redhead. It seems that all this fame of being the wife of the Yondaime and mother to the so called 'saviour of Konoha' was getting to her head.

"You know Kushina," Hiruzen said, leaking out a slight dose of concentrated killer intent. "When I welcomed you into this village, back when you were but a humble little girl who just wanted the pain of loss taken away from her, I never pegged you down as the type to become arrogant due to a small rise in status. You should know you place."

Kushina's eyes widened in rage as she was about to retort, but Minato beat her to the punch.

"I'll have you not to talk to my wife like that!" Minato snapped. "I think you should know your place, former Hokage."

Hiruzen returned his gaze back to Minato, who recoiled slightly at the intensity within the Sandaime's eyes.

"When you're in my home, you respect my wishes Yondaime. You should remember that I selected you, not the other way round. If you cannot remember that, well I'm sure you know where the door is," Hiruzen got up to leave the room.

"Wait!" Kushina's voice stopped him. "I'm sorry Sandaime-sama, I'm just overwhelmed, that's all."

Hiruzen regarded her for a minute, relishing the sight of her shifting nervously under his gaze. He decided to ease her nervousness and returned to his seiza position.

"Look Hiruzen," Minato restarted. "I know that we haven't seen eye to eye for a long while now, but we need your help to find Naruto."

Hiruzen lit up his pipe and took a long drag from it. Ahh, this is the good shit.

"And if I do?" he asked.

"Hm?"

"If I do help you to find Naruto-kun, what next?" Hiruzen asked, looking specifically at Minato gauging his reaction.

"We welcome him back of course," Kushina answered.

Hiruzen took another purposefully long drag.

"Really eh?" Kushina blinked in confusion. "So you're telling me that you will finally treat him like your son, not some leper hm? Now you will at least make the effort to give him at least some of your attention? That you will shower him with your love as you do with Natsumi?"

Kushina gasped in shock. "We DO NOT treat Naruto like some leper!"

"I beg to differ Kushina. Even a blind person can see the level of affection you hold for your son. In fact, the way you two treat him is like he doesn't even exist."

"T-That's not true!" Kushina began breaking down as tears began streaming down her face, but she fought hard to hold it back.

"Hm? Really? If you're this ignorant, then I'm surprised Naruto-kun hasn't commited suicide by now," Hiruzen pressed on.

At the mention of 'suicide' Kushina's tears broke free, like a river from a dam. Minato immediately pulled her into a one armed hug. He levelled a glare at Hiruzen and had the cheek to leak out a trickle of killer intent in the Sandaime's direction.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at Minato as soon as he felt the killer intent. He flooded Minato with his own, causing the blonde to sweat profusely.

That's right, you've never really experienced why I'm known as the Shinobi no Kami…

Minato pulled Kushina into a full hug and whispered a few words to her. He stroked his hand through her red hair. She nodded a few times and broke the hug. She wiped her tears with an arm as she got up and left the room.

Hiruzen continued to take long drags from his pipe as he sensed Kushina's chakra signature leave his house first, then the compound. He watched Minato smooth out his signature white jacket and readjust his seated position so that he were comfortable.

"Now that Kushina is gone, now we can talk properly. Frankly, I don't care if Naruto is gone or not, but you know where he is, don't you?" it was more of a statement than a question.

"Unfortunately for you, I don't," Hiruzen responded nonchalantly.

Minato scoffed lightly. "Don't lie to me Hiruzen, it is not befitting of you. I know Naruto visited you before he left and I know you used a modified version of my Hiraishin to get him out of the village. What I want to know is his reasons for leaving."

"Naruto's reasons are his own. Maybe if you actually took time to get to know him then maybe you'll have a clue as to the reasons behind his departure."

Minato stared at the Sandaime for a short while before getting up from his seiza, walking round the table and stood beside Hiruzen as he patted the Sandaime's shoulder.

"Don't think badly of me Sarutobi-sama, all will be revealed in due time. Just bear in mind that everything I do is for the good of Konoha." Minato swiftly left the room and the house leaving his words still lingering in the air.

X.x.X.x.X

The life and day to day dealings of a general store owner was absolutely devoid of anything of interest, unless of course, they are held at knife point by an armed robber.

That is what one Hashimoto Yamamoto realised after five years into business. He really didn't know why he decided to settle for such a humble profession, knowing fully well he could've become whatever he wanted to be, but hey interesting things do happen every now and then, such as now…

As he took in the appearance of a silvery-blonde boy who was browsing in the jobs section, Yamamoto felt the pang of nostalgia, welling up memories from ages past. Decided not to act on his urging to speak to the boy until he had further evidence, Yamamoto instead waited until the boy had finished browsing and approached him with a leaflet on hand. When he made eye contact with the boy, his suspicions were confirmed.

It's him, he's the one…

For Naruto, he was getting quite irritated. The shopkeeper was rooted to the spot as still as a statue and couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from Naruto. It didn't help that the man's rough appearance could pass him off as a pedophile of the sorts…

"Oi, omaye!" The Rinnegan weilder snapped his fingers to break the man out of his trance. "When are you gonna serve me?"

The sounds served their purpose and Yamamoto burst out in laughter that reeked of embarrassment. "Ah gomenasai, I was lost in thought. How can I help?"

Naruto eyed the shopkeeper with caution. "Yeah, I'm not from around here but interested in this job so I was wondering if you could give me some directions." He handed the advert over at Yamamoto's behest.

Yamamoto scanned over the document, picking up the address at the end of the page before folding it.

"Those are some interesting eyes you've got there, that and your hairstyle's pretty unique. Are the horns a new fashion statement?"

Naruto's hands twitched dangerously as he restrained himself from outright choking the man. Seriously, who was he to talk about fashion statements, what with the bucket hat over his messy black hair and chin stubble.

"My hair has always been like that and so were my eyes." Naruto responded through gritted teeth.

The man nodded. "That's interesting, but what I want to know is what is the Kyūbi Jinchūriki doing outside of Konoha, without escorts no less."

Naruto's eyes widened and he made to get away but was startled to find out he couldn't move. He tried to move even one finger but it was as if he was paralysed. Not even enhancing his limbs with chakra help, if anything it served to waste his chakra.

"W-What did you do to me?"

Yamamoto smiled and whipped out a fan to cover the lower half of his face which now housed a mocking smirk. "Why you wanted to run away and I couldn't have that? Please answer my questions and I'll let you go."

Naruto mulled over his chances. On one hand, he could seal his lips and potentially anger the man, who was in the position to do anything to Naruto. On the other hand, he could tell the man all he wanted to know and risk being sold into slavery, taken back to Konoha, or worst case scenario, handed over to Iwa. However, there was that small chance that the man behind the counter may simply keep his word and let him go.

Naruto sighed and locked his resolute gaze with the mirthful one of the storekeeper. He had made up his mind.

"I ran away from Konoha because everyone there save for a handful of people seem to think my existence doesn't matter since I hold the Yin chakra of the Kyūbi."

Yamamoto raised a lone ebony brow. How interesting…

"What about your parents?" Yamamoto asked. "Are they part of those handful of people?"

Naruto scoffed. "I wish. Tō-san's more indifferent if anything since he's busy with his Hokage duties and whatnot so he's not around most of the time. Kā-san however only cares for Natsumi just because Natsumi's meant to be some 'saviour' or something. I mean everything she does is for Natsumi's benefit, always training her and teaching her new jutsu's, being there for here whenever she's hurt or has a nightmare…"

Naruto sniffed as unsolicited tears leaked out of his eyes and cascaded down his face since he could not wipe them away. He did not know why he was opening up to this complete stranger, but then maybe that was the reason why he was doing so. A stranger is someone they would most likely never see again so there was no harm in showing some weakness in front of them.

"I-I used to tell myself I to ignore it, that I didn't need her *sniff* but all I was doing was deceiving myself! I never knew it would hurt this much!"

He collapsed into a heap, bawling his eyes out as he finally released all of his pent up emotions, all the stored up pain from the neglect from his childhood, the stares, the whispers… the dam had broken and the river was bursting forth, torrent upon torrent.

Yamamoto walked round the counter and knelt before Naruto, placing a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Hey." His words didn't seem to register as Naruto didn't look up, his bawling now reduced to snivels.

"Hey kid, look at me." Red-rimmed Rinnegan eyes met with onyx. "I'm sorry to hear about your treatment back home, and I'm sure you feel worn out."

Naruto nodded. "Don't worry about that job offer, I've been meaning to hire an assistant and I think you'll do. The pay is better than that cleaning job you were interested in and I'll provide lodgings and food. Another bonus is that I'll train you."

Naruto's brows furrowed as a confused look settled on his visage. "Train me?"

Now it was Yamamoto's turn to nod. "Hai. You know about your Kekkei Genkai and its perks right?" Following a confirmation by the silver-blonde, the raven haired man continued. "Well I also happen to be very knowledgable in Ninjutsu and a bit of Taijutsu. Don't give me that look, so what if I'm a storekeeper, there are many unique people in this world such as your Jiraiya. He's a renowned Shinobi and an author, but does anyone complain? No because he makes the most important contribution to literature of all time."

Seeing as there was a small smile present on Naruto's lips, Yamamoto smiled inwardly, happy that he was able to raise the Jinchūriki's spirits, if only a little.

Yamamoto rose to his full height and stretched out a hand, his dimples on full display though the grin on his face. "So whaddya say kid? You wanna be my apprentice?"

Naruto stared at the outstretched hand before him. This was his chance to learn the ninja way without any hinderance from someone who seemed to want to genuinely help him. The fact that he felt no ill-intent emanating from the man was a big plus in his book.

Naruto hardened his gaze and steeled his resolve. Taking a deep breath he stared deeply into the man's eyes as if searching his soul, took the shopkeeper's hand and pulled himself to his feet.

"Excellent. Now I believe introductions are in order, my name is Hashimoto Yamamoto. May I know the name of my apprentice?"

This was it. This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for all his life.

This was the chance to create his own legacy and prove his doubters wrong.

It was then a sweatdrop made its way onto Naruto's head. To accept someone as your apprentice without knowing their name… that person must be either very trusting or very stupid. And judging by that shit-eating grin present on Yamamoto's face, Naruto was strongly leaning towards the latter.

Banishing all thoughts from his mind lest he accidentally blurt it out, Naruto smiled confidently. "My name is Namikaze Naruto, pleased to meet you."

Those words would forever mark the beginning of a new friendship that would rock the very foundations of the ninja world.

* * *

**A/N: Not much to say other than this is shorter than my usual. Don't worry, Naruto would meet the monks eventually. For all of the fans of Fūinjutsu, don't fret the new chapter is in the works. Also the new chapter of By Any Means should be out before the New Year. **

**Is it me, or should the world have ended last Wednesday on the 12/12/12?**


End file.
